Rams Offseason thread

Blue, I am of the opinion that Rob Ryan will not do much for our D that McGinnis can't accomplish. I think our man is McGinnis and since Fisher is a very big in-house, loyal type of guy, I see no reason he'll bring in Ryan if he can not keep McGinnis which may be relieved if Ryan brings his guys in. Not a Fisher move in my mind. retroram.

I agree retro, it is my birthday and the last thing I need today is a change of a coaching staff that has the Rams at least on their way up.  Rob Ryan would work under other circumstances but not right now with Dave McGuinnes already in place.  Just add a SS, FS and OLB and let McGuinnes get that unit to the top of class and with offensive help to the playoffs.

Oh, by the way, with Redskins QB RGIII having surgery this morning on LCL and ACL tears and a 8 to 10 month rehab, wonder how the brain thrust are feeling today about 1st rounders going to the Rams in 2013 and 2014?  I know RGIII was great, but out a game and a half after the knee took by a hit against the Ravens and now he couldn't finish a playoff game.  I guess the Redskins brass wouldn't have changed a thing but a running QB in this league has a low long term career.

Saw a report that OT Matthews is leaning going back to school at Texas A&M.  He was projected 38th best in the draft.

I wouldn't be a fan of hiring Rob Ryan. The defense has been improving rapidly and as I have stated before I think the Rams need to maximize continuity. To me that would be an in house hiring, or someone close to Fisher who will be saying pretty much the same things. 

Happy Birthday Blue as the years keeping clicking by and it is still good to be a Ram fan after all these years. I suspect next year is going to be sweeter if get a fresh infusion of talent from the draft and our progress continues under Fisher.

I also saw a similar article indicating that Matthews is going to return to school which only means Warmack and Fluker have even a better chance of becoming Rams along with one or maybe two of the three big safeties between Elam, Vaccaro, or Reid. I watched Fluker and Warmack in the national championship game and all I could say was WOW!!


So, I hope we see both with horns on their head come next May and July and one or two of the safeties walking into Rams Parka s well. retroram. 

Thanks retro, the years do keep clicking by.  Unlike Fisher's MO about not drafting O-lineman early in the draft, he must know this is where the Rams need help first.  If he wants to win, the line needs to be first.  Keeping Bradford clean and upright is the key to the Rams scoring points.  I watched Warmack, Fluker and Jones in Alabama's win against Notre Dame and they are studs and need to wear horns.

I finally decided to take a peak at the draft.

Combines, senior days, etc.. yet to come so anyones projections probably wont be accurate at this point.

Anywho
we have the 16th and 22nd pick.

First I had a look through to see who the top 10 talent was that shouldn't be around beyond the 12th pick.
came up with 8 guys in no special order.
QB Geno Smith
QB Matt Barkley
OT Luke Joeckel
DT Star Lotulelei
DE Bjoern Warner
DE Damontre Moore
OLB Jarvis Jones
OLB Barkevious Mingo

Add in these 4 that should be gone in the top 15
OT Taylor Llewan
TE Tyler Eifert
ILB Manti Teo
FS Eric Reed

I expect those 12 to be gone before the 16th pick.
I'll pick up my draft starting at #12
12 Miami- WR- probably patterson from Tenn but who knows. WR irregardless.
13 TB- FS-Eric Reed,LSU
14 DT- Sheldon Richardson
15-CB Dee Milliner,ALA
16-STL-OT Eric Fisher,Central Michigan****************
17-DT- Jesse Williams,ALA
18 Dall-QB-Tyler Wilson, Ark
19 OG- Chance Warmack,ALA
20 CHI- OT-Jake Mathews, Tx A&M
21 DE Sam Montgomery, LSU
22 SS Matt Elam, FL*************

Round#2
LB kevin Minter, LSU(yes he played MLB in college but he has amazing range and is great at shedding blockers when blitzing. He could easily convert to OLB while also being an elite backup MLB)
or
LB-Chase Thomas, Stanford

Round #3
TE-Jordan Reed, FL(easily the biggest playmaking TE coming out this year but slips due to size)

Round #4
RB-Mike Gillislee,FL(great all around back that would be a good addition to the rotation if SJ leaves. probably the best pass blocking RB in this draft.)

Round #5
C-Frederick Davis,Wisc(6'4" 340)(Centers always slide down the draft & this guy is to big to play center anyway...hes an excellent run blocker that anchored Wiscy's running game this last year. He could end up replacing Harvey Dahl @ RG & be an absolute beast.)

Round #6
DE Larry Webster, Bloomsberg(6'6" 250)(father played in the NFL for over a decade. He has a great wingspan & could end up being special off the edge)

Round #7
WR Marquise Goodwin, Tx(small, kick blazing fast returner)

Well SKERZ96... Matthews is staying in school and so is Lewan. As for the 4th round pick of Gillislee, we have one like him already in Daryl Richardson. If we draft a RB, we need to make sure he is essentially a SJ39 clone..so Montee Ball,LeVean Bell or Eddie Lacy (assuming he comes out like the report claims)

I like the Minter idea as well as Thomas but I think both of those guys will be available in round 3. I really think we MUST draft 2 O Linemen and the best Safety available with the first 3 picks.

I am not sure why everyone is so enamored with the TE's in this draft. A guy like Gronk comes around once every 10 years. Neither Eifert or Reed are Gronk and I personally love the progress Kendricks made this past season. Plus both Mulligan and McNeill played their positions well. We have MUCH bigger needs than TE IMO.

One last thing... we have 2 burner WR on the roster right now, one big (Quick) and 1 smaller (Givens). We can bring a guy like Goodwin as an undrafted FA. No need to use a draft pick, even a 7th, on a guy like that.  

Reed is more like an Aaron Hernandez.
With his hands and speed, he wouldn't make the third round if he had Gronk size.
Add to that fisher's offenses usually utilize the TE's.
I really dont see any bigtime WR's coming through this draft, so it wouldn't hurt to bring in a playmaker at TE it'd give tow options over the middle much like the Patriots have.
I'm not getting a hard on to draft the kid, but if he's there in the middle of the third he may be the best player available.

Towards Gillislee, I only chose him because he's probably the best all around back in this draft that doesn't have a ton of mileage. I can think of 2 or 3 others that I'd have ahead of him but they have had multiple thousand yard 300 carry typed seasons through high school and college already. The mileage adds up on those fellas.

And I did draft 2 O linemen. One in the first covering our biggest need, a left tackle. I dont get why you guys keep saying we need to draft guards...we've been having problems off the edge more than anywhere else. Despite that I picked a kid that could end up being a pretty damned good guard with my 5th pick.

I dont care what they draft in the 7th round, if the kid thats drafted actually makes the roster It's a huge success for any team.

If Llewan stays in school, thats one less top 10-15 pick that pulls the top talent towards the top and away from us. The Mathews kid also, a first rounder pulls more of those middle round guys a couple steps forward.

Minter is a mid 1st to late 2nd rounder. The 2nd best MLB in this draft with serious talent. Third round aint happening. With the other 2 kids skipping the draft that probably moves Thomas anywhere from early 2nd to early 3rd. He's a big OLB with some talent. A good fit for the SLB spot.

If you actually have a look at the lack of top tier talent in this draft you'll see those guys that'd normally be sitting in the 3rd and 4th are probably going in the 2nd round. Ont one single elite qb in this draft, yet teams are desperate for one. I think that says alot about this draft class.

Anyway as I said in my 1st post, this far ahead of the combine and senior day... everything can be turned on its head.
No point in us argueing about anything.

I will point out that Eric Reid is being heavily compared to Mark Barron, with the exception that Barron is better inside the box(no pun intended). Mark Barron was supposed to be a mid 1st to early 2nd round pick last year...until the combine. He was the best safety of a more overall talented draft class and was still taken 7th. I wouldn't be surprised if Eric Reid follows the same path.

Eric Reid being the best safety in this draft is very debatable. He is my favorite but I think Matt Elam may very well be better. To me Eric Reid is the 2nd coming of Ryan Clark(even from LSU) who is my favorite player in the NFL right now. That being said Ryan Clark seems to be high on Tony Jefferson so what do I know? My point is that I don't think there is a safety worth taking in the top 10 and I don't think any will be. I would be surprised if any of those 4(Reid, Jerrerson, Elam, Vaccaro) are off the board when the Rams pick simply because none of them jump out at you and there are a lot of interior players this year with high draft stock. 

Skerz, I don't think Reid or Eifert will go that high. A fair number of mocks have Reid even falling into the 2nd round and I'm just not that high on Eifert. Otherwise I think that I agree with the area you have most guys going.